John Swire & Sons exits direct holding in Swire Properties

The $630 million placement comes more than a month before the expiry of an existing lockup, but investors welcome the removal of the overhang and pile into the deal.

Less than two months after its previous sell-down, John Swire Sons last night sold the remainder of its directly owned shares in Hong Kong-listed Swire Properties, raising HK$4.88 billion $630 million.

The sale came as a surprise since the shares in question were supposed to be locked up until mid-November. However, the bookrunners on the previous trade decided to waive the rest of that three-month lockup following reverse inquiries from a few investors...